UK launch for Nestlé’s ruby chocolate KitKat

Vince Bamford
· 10 April, 2018

Nestlé is launching a KitKat made with ruby chocolate in the UK next week.

Rolling out exclusively into Tesco, the four-finger KitKat Ruby is coated with ruby chocolate, which is sourced from ruby cocoa beans and described as having an “intense berry-fruitiness taste” without the addition of flavour or colour.

Ruby chocolate was unveiled last year by Barry Callebaut. The global chocolate supplier said it had taken years of work at its research & development centres and Germany’s Jacobs University to develop a process to unlock the colour and flavour from the beans, which are sourced from around the world.

The KitKat Ruby was launched in Japan and South Korea as KitKat Chocolatory Sublime Ruby in January, and the UK is the first country in Europe to receive the product. Following its roll-out to Tesco stores next week, it will be launched across Europe and the Americas.

“Ruby chocolate is a big innovation in confectionery and we are very proud that KitKat is the first major brand in the UK to feature this exciting new chocolate,” said Nestlé’s UK confectionery marketing director Alex Gonnella.

Barry Callebaut has said ruby chocolate can be used in a range of applications, including moulding and as an ice cream coating, but does not recommend bakery applications, as the colour would be lost. Callebaut added that mixing ruby chocolate with cream would also result in colour loss.